The present invention relates to wireless communications systems, and more particularly, to applications utilizing control signals emitted from wireless communications devices to monitor geographical location and movement.
Tracking and monitoring devices for detecting an individual""s location and movement can be used in a variety of applications. Whether for monitoring the whereabouts of children as a safety check or for tracking the productivity of employees in a business, such systems allow one to easily and more effectively supervise others from a remote location.
Conventional child locator systems provide an example of a limited-range monitoring device that can be used for monitoring children within a few hundred feet of a parent. A child wears a small, portable transmitter that emits a low power RF signal detected by a receiver worn or carried by the parent. Whenever the child strays too far from the parent, the parent""s receiver no longer detects the signal and emits an alarm. The parent can then warn the child to remain within a closer range and avoid danger. The conventional child locator system can therefore be useful for detecting whether an individual who wears a monitoring device travels beyond a certain distance.
A common difficulty for parents of adolescent children is to supervise their children""s activities while the children are farther away from their parents. Although parents can contact their children by providing them with mobile cellular telephones, a telephone call may create an embarrassing interruption (e.g., at the movies, at a party with friends, etc.). If the child""s mobile telephone incorporates caller identification features, the child may also be inclined not to answer the parent""s calls. Further, the parent may have little confidence that the child is being honest in describing his location and activities. Therefore, there is a need for a monitoring system that allows a parent to track a child""s location within a wide geographical area from a remote location.
In addition to child monitoring, there are also many business applications for monitoring systems that can detect the locations of employees whose job requires travel away from the worksite. Many types of businesses employ drivers who pick up or deliver goods or patrons. For these businesses, dispatchers rely upon their drivers to communicate their location and workload, usually through a CB-type radio or a mobile cellular telephone. The dispatcher must continually speak with the drivers to learn each of their present locations in order to evaluate which driver is the most appropriate for an assignment. In supervising the drivers, the dispatcher is unable to detect whether drivers are taking unauthorized breaks or detours, or are otherwise being unproductive. For such businesses, there is a need for a monitoring system that allows a dispatcher to instantly detect the geographical locations of the drivers within the geographical area.
Accordingly, there is a need for a monitoring system that can detect the geographical location of one or more individuals and provide this information to another at a remote location.
The present invention is directed to a method and system for monitoring the geographical location of a subscriber""s mobile cellular telephone, and for providing the location information to an authorized user through the world wide web. The geographical location of the subscriber""s mobile cellular telephone is tracked using registration signals transmitted over a control channel by the cellular telephone. This information is supplied to a geographical location coordinator system, which determines the geographical coordinates for the cellular telephone. A database stores the geographical location information along with a subscriber""s telephone number and account code. The database is updated to track the movement of the cellular telephone user across a geographical area.
An authorized user accesses the geographical location information for one or more cellular telephones using mapping software on an Internet browser. The user provides one or more access codes for each cellular telephone that the user desires to locate. Location information is provided on a street map to show the present location of the requested cellular telephones. In an alternative embodiment, the user interface additionally provides information concerning the direction and speed of movement for the requested cellular telephones. Through the browser software, the user is able to track a cellular telephone subscriber""s location without placing a call or directly communicating with the subscriber.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for monitoring the geographical location of individuals within a geographical region from a remote location. The monitoring system includes at least one wireless communications device having a transmitter for transmitting a signal comprising location information. A plurality of receivers are located across a geographical region for detecting location signals transmitted by wireless communications devices. A wireless network communicates location information detected by the receivers to a location processor. An Internet server provides location information from the location processor pertaining to at least one wireless communications device to authorized users through the Internet.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a monitoring system for providing the geographical location of certain individuals within a geographical region to authorized users at a remote location. A plurality of wireless communications devices transmit signals comprising location information. Each wireless communications device is associated with an individual to be monitored. A plurality of receivers are located across a geographical region for detecting location signals transmitted by the wireless communications devices. A wireless network communicates location information detected by the receivers to a location processor. A database stores location information and associates a user access code with each wireless communications device. In operation, authorized users receive location information pertaining to each wireless communications device associated with respective user access codes.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for monitoring a geographical location of individuals within a geographical region from a remote location. The monitoring system receives control signals comprising location information from wireless communication devices associated with individuals to be monitored, where the control signals are transmitted over a wireless network. The system then processes the control signals in a location processor to determine coordinates representing locations of individuals to be monitored. The locations of individuals to be monitored are then provided to an Internet server. Authorized users are provided access to the Internet server through a website.